


Statement of James Copley

by AndromedaSpiral



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Prompt Fill, Retelling, Statement Fic (The Magnus Archives)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25819066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaSpiral/pseuds/AndromedaSpiral
Summary: Statement of James Copley, former CIA, regarding a group of undying mercenaries.Done for the Old Guard Discord Server Prompt Jamboree.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46
Collections: Old Guard Discord Server Prompt Jamboree





	Statement of James Copley

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IsLib](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsLib/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [IsLib](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsLib/pseuds/IsLib) in the [TheOldGuardPrompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TheOldGuardPrompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> "Magnus Archives Crossover, pretty please?  
> Is there a statement about a bunch of undying warriors? Maybe Copley's heard of the Magnus Institute and wonders if they have any information about any of the Guard? Maybe they themselves happen by the Institute for one reason or another?  
> Idk, I just feel like there's potential..."
> 
> I've done it as Copley giving his version of the movie events as a statement, because frankly, getting on the bad side of a group of immortal warriors is probably terrifying. 
> 
> Everything in quotation marks = statement  
> Everything not in quotation marks = what Jon is saying outside of statement

Statement of James Copley, former CIA, regarding a group of undying mercenaries. Original statement given 30th of August 2017. Recording by Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. Statement begins:

“It was when I was going through my late wife’s belongings that I first noticed the picture. Madeline was a historian, specialising in early 20th century military history. At that time, she had recently passed away from ALS, and I was left to pick up the pieces. Her will stated that she wanted her library of books to be donated to the university where she worked, but she hadn’t had time to organise her belongings before her health took a steep decline.

“I thought by going through her belongings, I could work through my grief. Madeline was barely recognisable towards the end, her disease taking so much of her autonomy and expression away, but her hand-scribbled notes in the margins of her books gave me a memento of the brilliant woman I married.

“The book that had the first picture was about how the First World War impacted the citizens of France. The photo was of a solider helping two young girls, with the subtitle pointing out how the girl on the left would go on to contribute significantly to the study of life-saving heart surgeries. But it was the solider that struck my eye. It could have been that my grief was clouding my judgement, but I knew for certain that I had seen that face before.

“My wife had evidently had the same feeling, as she left a note remarking how similar the solider looked to a man in another photo taken during the Civil Rights movement in the United States, a good 50 years on from the original photo. Logically I knew it was probably someone who just looked similar, or even a descendant of the solider, but my gut feeling said otherwise. Something compelled me to find this picture, which I did later that night after hours of searching.

“I knew as soon as I saw the second photo that it was the same man. And then I realised why I recognised him. Years ago, when I was still with the CIA, I worked with an exceptional group of freelancers. They were the best of the best. There were only four of them, but they came out of what would be a suicide mission for anyone else unscathed. This man was one of them, the sniper I believe.

“At this point, logic left my reasoning and I became convinced that this man and his associates had some sort of supernatural ability to cheat death. I began searching for more evidence, anything that would justify my absurd belief.

“It was extremely difficult, but I had eventually found several hundred pieces of evidence, in the background of photos and in the one-word mentions in books, spanning over hundreds of years, although most of in was condensed into the past 150 years. My friends initially thought that this was just my way of working through grief, but they became more concerned the longer it went on.

“In my mind, I was fully convinced of their immortality. I didn’t, I don’t, know what they are, but I could see that whenever they helped people, humanity would benefit greatly from the ripple effect. But with whatever their ability was, I believed they could save humankind with their gift. All I needed was hard evidence.

“It was meeting Steven Merrick that spurred me into action. After Madeline’s death, I began investing into ways to cure ALS and other forms of human suffering. At a fundraising event, Merrick talked at great lengths of his company’s vision, of wanting to end disease and extend human life. I approached him after, and instead of brushing me off as I expected, he was willing to hear me out.

“He was fascinated by the ideas of immortals walking among us. I showed him my evidence, and although he was skeptical, he said he would consider it. A few weeks later, he called me to offer a substantial reward if I managed to capture and deliver him all four of the immortals for experimentation, or ‘hard proof’ as he put it.

“It took me awhile, by I finally managed to track down a member of the group, Booker. My initial thought was to just offer the group a fake job, to confirm their immortality and then capture them. But then I realised that if they really were hundreds of years old and unable to die, I would need to be smarter about it. I would need one of them on my side.

“It turns out Booker was easy to exploit. I confronted him with my evidence, and to my surprise he confirmed my belief. I soon learnt that Booker was not happy with his gift, decades of grief and every mortal he loved dying, and he wanted a way to end it. He believed that if Merrick could find out how their immortality work, then he could also find a way to end it.

“We worked out a plan. A month or so later, I met the leader of the group, Andy, under the pretence of trying to find a group of abducted schoolgirls. The group agreed, and our plan was put into action.

“It was a remote location in Sudan, and the first room of the compound made it easy to strike on the group. As soon as they walked in, lights were lit and all four of them were hit but a storm of bullets before they had time to react. It was absolutely gruesome. There was no possible way anyone mortal could have survived that.

“I will never forget what happened next. After the room was declared clear and the soldiers had turned back, the four began to rise. They were still covered in blood, but all their bullet wounds had disappeared. Before the soldiers could reload, the four sprang into action. I can only describe their attack as a massacre. They all moved efficiently and without hesitation, and at that moment I realised that if they escaped this, they would inevitably turn their fury onto me, and I would not stand a chance.

“After the fight, Andy walked towards the camera and took a swing at it. The look she gave into it, at me, created the deepest sense of dread I have ever felt. I knew I had just become another target to her, another prey for the hunter.

“From that moment on, the fear did not leave me. I showed Merrick the footage, and he demanded I get him all four. I tried to negotiate for only one, as I thought perhaps Booker would give himself up willing and I would not have to face Andy’s wrath, but that did not work. I tried my best to hide my tracks, but I had the ever-growing fear that Andy would find me. I knew there were three others who could do me just as much harm, but my fear seemed to fixate on her, as she was the oldest and the deadliest.

“The next night I was in France with Merrick’s head of security, Keane. We were a reasonable distance away from the immortals’ safehouse, an old church, but the fear had not subdued in any way or form. Over the monitor, I saw Andy take out a team of highly trained men like it was nothing. At that point I did not trust the other 30 men outside the church to restrain her, so I fled.

“The next day, she showed up at my house. Even though she had Booker with her, and I knew he would not let her hurt me, I was still terrified. Andy was shot by Booker, which revealed that, for reasons beyond my understanding, she had lost her ability. One would think that would have me less scared of her, knowing that she could die, but instead the opposite was true. I feared her mortality was more of a motivator to kill me.

“Merrick’s security came to collect them, leaving me alone in my house. It was less than an hour before a woman walked into that same room pointing a gun at me. She was looking for Andy and the others, shooting herself in the foot to prove she was one of them. At this point my remorse and fear was stronger than my belief that Merrick could find the key to immortality, so I took her to the lab.

“Knowing it was probably unsafe for me to remain there any longer than I had to be, I left. I don’t know exactly what happened after that, but I do know there was a lot of death that day, including Merrick and Keane.

“Later, the group minus Booker returned to my house, and told me that I was now going to work for them, hiding their tracks and finding them jobs. They were not asking. I do not think they are going to kill me anytime soon, but now I have that ever constant fear hanging over my head; I help the hunters so that I do not become the hunted.”

Statement ends.

Post-statement notes: Before I knew what I know now, I would have passed this off as some sort of fantastical tale, possibly as Copley’s way of dealing with grief by imagining the existence of immortals. Unfortunately, I know who this statement is referring to. Andromache of Scythia, even though she is older than the Scythian culture, was an immortal who leads a group known as the Old Guard. She is now, for some reason that escapes the Eye’s knowledge, no longer immortal herself though.

The other members are Yusuf al-Kaysani, Nicolo di Genova, Sebastien le Livre, and Nile Freeman. There is also a sixth member, Quynh, but it is reasonable that Copley has no idea of her existence, given that for 364 years she has been trapped in an iron maiden underwater in the English Channel.

I can only speculate on what power the Old Guard serves, as although their actions align with the Hunt, their abilities are unlike the ones Trevor, Julia, and Daisy possess. Their actions seem to be too calculated and targeted for the Slaughter. And that does not even begin to explain their immortality, as the Vast seems to be mostly unrelated to the fear they cause. What I do know however, is that over the centuries the fear they have reaped is likely to greatly satisfy whoever their patron is.

End recording.

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline is a bit wonky, so I've made the year 2017 (comic's release) for the film's events instead of 2020, so it doesn't happen during the Eyepocalypse in TMA version of events. Statement read in season 4 of TMA, so Jon has eye powers.


End file.
